


rough

by adietxt



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, M/M, Pining, Unresolved Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24734905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adietxt/pseuds/adietxt
Summary: Sanji is rough.It's fine. Zoro can handle rough.
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 30
Kudos: 312





	rough

**Author's Note:**

> Another quick thing, except this one isn't happy. Going through some rough patches irl, and this is what came out. Sorry for that.
> 
> This is also for the prompt "no one can hurt me like you can."

Sanji is rough.

Sanji isn’t _always_ rough, Zoro knows, has seen the way Sanji indulges the crew; the drinks he makes for the girls, the colourful treats he invents just for Chopper. Little encouragements for Usopp and Franky, here and there, whenever either of them hits a wall on one of his inventions, and Zoro doesn’t miss the extra meal he secretly makes for Luffy’s supper, the tea he brews when Brook finds his nights a little too quiet. Soft hands and softer looks, hidden amidst the curses spilling out of his foul mouth.

Not with Zoro, though. Sanji has been anything _but_ soft for Zoro. The Cook straightens up his back, when he talks to Zoro, like he’s expecting Zoro to attack him at the slightest provocation, and he isn’t wrong — Zoro _will_ attack him at the slightest provocation. That’s just how they are with each other: harsh, coarse.

 _Rough_.

It’s fine.

“Oi, Mosshead,” Sanji calls out as he steps out of the galley, the rest of the crew already leaving after lunch. “Fight me.”

This isn’t unusual. They fight for the flimsiest of reasons; sometimes they don’t even need one.

Sanji’s scathing look, though, is a bit unusual, and it unsettles something inside Zoro, the back of his mouth souring. “Not in the mood,” he snaps. “Go find someone else. Luffy’s free.”

Sanji seems to balk at the suggestion. “Luffy’s still tired from yesterday,” he says, gesturing at the giant hole at the side of the galley, the one created after they failed to deflect a stray cannon from yesterday’s marine attack, as if it’s supposed to explain everything.

Zoro can still feel the gunshot wound on his right shoulder, healing but stiff still; the marine was, admittedly, stronger than the ones they were used to. “And you think I’m not?”

“You’re a brute,” Sanji spits out in reply. Daggers in his eyes, acid on his tongue. Rough. “Who fuckin’ _cares_.”

It’s fine.

Really.

Sanji is rough, most of the times, because that’s just how it is with them. Zoro benefits from it anyway, because this way Sanji pushes him to be stronger — _better_ , because In a way, Sanji is pushing him to take one step closer towards his dream.

But sometimes. Sometimes it’s _not_ fine, because Zoro has seen how _soft_ Sanji could be, has seen how gentle he treated Nami and Robin and the rest of the crew, with the late-night teas and flashy treats and the kind words.

(Zoro has _felt_ how soft Sanji could be, once; Thriller Bark was an island filled with ghosts and regrets, in more ways than one. It’s funny, how it takes Zoro almost losing his life for Sanji to care about him.

It’s funny, except nobody’s laughing.)

“No one can hurt me like you can,” Zoro ends up saying, and he didn’t mean for it to come out so _angry_ , but it did; in a low, tired, slow-sinking way.

A smile flashes across Sanji’s face, clean and simple. “Good.”

Zoro knows — _rationally_ knows — that Sanji doesn’t really mean it. The Cook is probably just thinking about their stupid years-long rivalry. It still hurts, though, like someone is shoving a thousand broken shards of glass into Zoro’s chest.

Zoro scoffs, and laughs, and the shards slide against his heart.


End file.
